Washington (DC) — A woman has been arrested for allegedly spitting on Ed Martin, the beleaguered former interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, during an interview earlier this month.
Emily Gabriella Sommer, 32, has been charged with one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding a government official, according to an affidavit issued Thursday.
The charge was unsealed as Sommer appeared in court, and U.S. Marshals had to remove her at one point because she became “agitated,” according to local WUSA reporter Jordan Fischer.
Sommer and Martin had a confrontation on May 8 at around 3:30 p.m. in front of the United States Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., according to court documents.
While a Newsmax reporter was interviewing Martin, Sommer is said to have approached him and said something like, “Who in the f— are you?”
When Martin, 55, turned to Sommer, she allegedly asked, “Are you Ed Martin? Yes, you are. Ed Martin,” and then lunged at him, spitting on his left shoulder.
Sommer walked away, yelling, “You are a disgusting man.” F— you, Ed Martin. “My name is Emily Gabriella Sommer, and you are served,” the affidavit reads.
Investigators searched law enforcement databases for her name and discovered a previous booking photo that matched those from the incident with Martin.
They also discovered an X account with the username “@EmilyGabriellaS” that had made several identical posts about the confrontation, responding to Martin’s posts by saying: “ED, that was me that spit in your face today” and calling the action a “pleasure.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh reportedly released Sommer on Thursday without GPS monitoring after her public defenders argued that such a punishment would be inconsistent with many other January 6 cases.
Martin’s nomination to lead the federal prosecutor’s office in the nation’s capital was rocky from the start, with more than 100 former US attorneys signing a statement calling him a “egregiously unqualified political hack.” Other prosecutors, including many who worked on Jan. 6 cases that Martin defended, accused him of having a “fundamental misunderstanding of the role.”
Martin was serving as the interim United States Attorney for the District of Columbia at the time of the confrontation.
He needed Senate confirmation within 120 days of his appointment to secure the full-time position, and since President Donald Trump appointed him to the interim position in January, his time was running out.
Fox News personalities Jeanine Pirro has since been appointed as his replacement, and she and acting U.S. Marshal Ron Carter of the District Court for the District of Columbia announced the complaint against Sommer on Thursday.
